Saturday, July 29, 2017

We are fortunate with the vast amount of music able to be heard. Imagine living in a rural setting two centuries ago, what would your options be? Local folk music or an arduous journey to the city for an opera or symphony. Currently the possibilities are so acute, sub genres of music embedded within genres. Properly selected music can dictate moods and feelings, can augment happiness or sorrow, can help meditate or cause anxiety. Listening therapy or hollering rage, sounds created fit like clothes we wear.

And being fortunate, inspiring works like Alex Crispin's Idle Worship are bestowed upon us. Discovering a brilliant ambient dimension while escorted by glowing ethereal companions. Nothing but peacefulness and contentment. Idle Worship bubbles notes from keyboard and strings so naturally, like the Selterswasser spring in the German Taunus mountains. Both possessing organic and unrefined aspects. This composition nears the hour mark floating on skilled creativity. Like releasing fireflies from an infinitely filled mason jar. Vivid energy dispersing into the density of the surrounding world. Only touching the surface for the fifth track "Canopy Dance", exhibiting rhythms around the fires ring. Alex captures long musing moments with nimble ease. A symphony for a clouds edge and it's every changing shape. A contemplative composition allowing the consciousness respite from the daily cognitive routines.

Idle Worship was released on Sounds Of The Dawn in the spring of this year in an edition of one hundred. The label ringing the diving bell deep beneath the ambient ocean. The Sounds Of The Dawn site has a very cool blog highlighting meditative cassette wonders of the past. Also cassette releases of their own. Looks like five total with three still available including Idle Worship. Lunaria was an earlier release described on Lost In A Sea Of Sound less than a year ago.

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Sound traveling through space, infinite amounts of time across vast distances. On this journey, a single rhythm or binary series of code begins to evolve. A solo note like a single cell organism changing and mutating. Casting off what does not help progress and focusing in on the complexities of survival. Manudaga has arrived at the planets atmospheric periphery. Theses intricate tracks benefiting from undisturbed evolution. Just like Earth's inhabitants possible beginning, the far reaches of space delivering a new alien nostalgia.

With the help of BLIGHT. Records, Tölva has created ten tracks exploring electronic grooves and emitting the warmest glow. These sounds have roots in all consuming bass, shooting forth wild growth and reaching for absorbing consciousnesses. Manudaga plays like a soundtrack, imaginations turning, generating images and scenarios steeped in solid rhythms and sparkling structure.There is a delightfully obscure quality as each track engages, elongating then finding position in the currents smooth flow. Sound wavelengths transformed, a metamorphosis through empty space, finally reaching their distant counterparts. Manudaga is one to keep in the tape player.

This cassette was released earlier this year in an edition of sixty. Pro dubbed by National Audio Company and brought to the surface by the Washington D.C. label BLIGHT. Records. Copies are currently available as well as a few newer releases from the label.

Monday, July 24, 2017

Somewhere in the cathartic flow of drone is a seam. A stitch in the fabric of sounds connected to make one continuous outpouring. As the music we hear wears into our lives, this comforting shell of harmony begins to deteriorate and expose its impermanent nature. Just like water seeping through, our cold air finding route, Polarities tears at the waning ambient fortitude. Trickling through the gap with dimensional cacophony, then filling all minds with an alternative and unknown beauty.

Colin Andrew Sheffield & James Eck Rippie have combined talents again. These artists engaged efforts after a long hiatus with two cassettes released on Elevator Bath in January and June of this year. Titled Essential Anatomies, both cassettes were described here on Lost in a Sea of Sound. These cassettes have since sold out from the label's inventory, but have been reinstalled on a beautiful double lp release by Elevator Bath. The vinyl is available!

There are many similarities between Polarities and Essential Anatomies. Some could even describe Polarities as a continuation of the Elevator Bath releases. The difference lies in the subtle quality of the Polarities cassette. Sounds seeping through the crevasses of our regimented routines, connecting thoughts to the vast distances these notes have traveled from. Exposing like a focused magistrate the conduction of orchestral dichotomy. As once Essential Anatomies tilted towards the grandiose, a symphony in scope and spectrum, Polarities plays the role of a long sonatina. A concise mood or feeling exposed through the vacancy of molecules holding worlds together.

Released on the Belgium label Tanuki Records near the start of summer. Polarities is in an edition of one hundred with copies currently available. Tanuki has two new July releases deserving a listen as well.

Friday, July 21, 2017

The front porch opening to vistas formed under uncomprehendable amounts of time. Rusty wind chimes collecting unseen movements of air. Totally Boring sounds are filled with depth, a temporal richness. Like the warm fire pushing out against the chill of the dark night. An energized undercurrent of drone with mists of harmonies steaming up through cracks and crevasses.

Otherbird is four tracks just under twenty five minutes. The composition is seamlessly congruent making one complete listening experience in it's unfolding. Tethered to organic earth, using avion sounds perched on echoing strings. Somehow Otherbird captures feelings with inviting comfort. More for sitting and dreaming rather than social gregariousness. Touches of banjo root this to folklore and foothills. A weathered and warm gem. Mesmerizing in patient laziness, stimulating the minds imagination.

Otherbird was released in late March on Already Dead Tapes and Records. This cassette is in an edition of sixty and is currently available from Already Dead. Totally Boring is a pillar for majestic ambience in the label's catalog.

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Energy is all around us. So much... saturating articles we do not readily expect. Like a rock, chair, book or wall, objects most deem as inanimate. Within these dormant bodies, vibrations of past times are stored. Somnoroase Păsărele has forged the key to unlock these hidden and forgotten fluxes of undulating molecules, infusing unheard vibrancy with their exquisite refined charm.

Looking through an old photo album, pictures of past lives fill every page. Some with smiles on their faces or looks of surprise, others perturbed for some reason, the expressions are infinite. From this frozen glimpse it must be inferred the mood of the occasion. Each person carries their own melodies through life. The picture is only superficial portrayal of the moment it is taken. On PATRU, Somnoroase Păsărele channels the inner harmonies of the spiritual flow embedded within the photograph. The connection with this medium is not completely understood, only Somnoroase Păsărele finds these threads, in turn producing grooves crossing the haunting edges of our dimension. PATRU is a release of collected passions and turmoils, an aural field utilizing a unheard magnitude in its construct. Here sounds flow as easily backwards as forwards. There is an alien beauty listeners can only appreciate by trying not to fathom the creative mesh conceiving them. Superb musical quality hanging the axe on the well worn nail. Frequently removed and sharpened for both destruction and creation. Somnoroase Păsărele fells the conventional and rebuilds the unimaginable. Beautiful through every listen, PATRU is another great place to rest in.

Released on Czaszka Records in an edition of forty copies. Unfortunately this has sold out. This Edinburgh label has three new releases for July making sixteen total. Many earlier releases are sold out like PATRU. Keep an ear on Czaszka for obscure and cool sounds from the fringe.
Somnoroase Păsărele has a very new cassette release on the sweet Portland label Never Anything Records. DEMO was released in July and is currently available.

There are two copies of PATRU on discogs if interested in the physical.

Saturday, July 15, 2017

Electric static forms a sphere with slow increasing rotation. The power heard and articulated like an engine firing after multiple tries. Consciousness, talent and experience combining to spark potential horsepower into creative speed. As these tracks form and start to purr, the listener is rewarded with the positive sounds of grooved out contrasting dimensions combining.

Dotson pushes the imaginative thresholds of rhythm and scope. When first listening to Indifference, thinking futuristic dub tied in with the first track "Reification". This became a narrow minded assessment as the following tracks unfolded. Indifference is a meteor storm of debris, chaotic in approach as these sounds burn through the atmosphere. Larger clusters of melodies exploding with a choreographed assault. There is a deep underlying current of a tightly woven electronic notes, being pummeled by beats high above. Dotson utilizes the world as the recording canvass. Hints of influence from Gamelan and Japanese resonance flicker with a Motown smoothness of groove. A slightly haunting feeling follows though the course of Indifference. This obviously rest with an creative imagination foreign to the path most take.

Released this year on Already Dead Tapes and Records in an edition of one hundred. This is the third release for Dotson on Already Dead.

Thursday, July 6, 2017

The bass player for KP & ME is a freakin' bad ass. In perfect timing with the driving percussion, anything could be played with this and it would sound incredible. Fortunately the dueling vocals and the subtle effects choices make Sex Cells explode with unprotected delight.

A full throttle ride over ten songs in twenty minutes. Mostly one word song titles like "Hamster", "Candy" and "Olive". Disguising the crafty imagination behind simple play bills. Starting with a dizzying bass and drum groove, fast like punk, but more reminiscent of unfiltered early eighties new wave. Filled with raw and unprocessed head nodding rhythms played at red lining decibels.

Sex Cells is an excellent tape, but seeing KP & ME live might be the best treat. With fluid diversity to go acoustic on the song "Johnny" using only vocals and banjo, KP & ME live in the world of experience and talent. For as forceful as Sex Cells comes across, the sounds have a reserved grandeur.
As if they have cured and aged over time. I was reminded of the band The Membranes, eighties roots, skilled and controlled skewed punk fun. KP & ME is refreshing like that.

Sex Cells was released at the end of last year on Crush Grove Records and Sound Workshop. KP & ME are from Bloomington, Indiana and have tapes available on their band camp page.

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

In the distance, on that planet orbiting it's star, take refuge or rest. The emptiness surrounding everything is pierced by simultaneously enchanting and haunting rhythms. Precise frequency manipulation floating between the physical and ethereal. Drawing out your interest with the challenge of discovering their beauty.

Dream Automaton is eleven tracks just around on hour in length. A sonic play radiating all forms of beats fused in their ambient embryonic fluid. Tiny individualized compositions woven together with sonic strands. The effect is a majestic tapestry, dense and lush, stories of hope and despair merging together. Electronic whimsy in a yin & yang circle with surrounding hallucinations. Tereshkova hangs emotion and heart from timeless undulating signals. Like filaments of sparkling light connecting bright days and dark nights. Sounds for twilight and the new characters it brings.

Released on Already Dead Tapes and Records in an edition of sixty. Tereshkova and Already Dead have worked together before. This might be the reason for only ten cassettes remaining for Dream Automaton. Fog and Other Memories and Bouquet Slush were the previous releases on Already Dead. Both are sold out.

Saturday, July 1, 2017

Not sure how to describe Miserable Kids Club? The best place to start is realizing many people have emotions and feelings that need to be conveyed. There are a variety of methods inner expressions can take to formulate outside the spirit, and in this instance music is the chosen venue. Exuberance is like the elusive dog you want to pet. There with a panting smile but wary of contact. Unlike joyfulness, turmoil is sharp and pierces through social constructs with direct ease. Unhappy or painful energy rises and saturates the core. This is Miserable Kids Club, providing sentiment from both sides of the scale. You can experience this fervour on the cassette Turn That Smile Side​-​Up Down.

Simple rhythms overlaid with spoken word stories. These erupt occasionally to raw outbursts of hurt. Speech fluctuating to song at times, and a few vocals resembling a loose rap style. There is a lot here to digest. Fourteen songs just under one half hour. The general mood, contempt and disdain for life. But beneath this, in order for passion to surface, pumps a heart full of love. Battered and beating loudly, strongly and gaining musical momentum. Imagination and creativity are not stiffed by either well being or sorrow. Only transformed to reflect what the heart wants to say.

Self released from Australia by Miserable Kids Club in an edition of ten cassettes. Five copies remaining according to the bandcamp ticker.